SA20 2026 Overview: History, Format, Teams and Revenue

SA20 History and Foundation

A T20 franchise league was established in the year 2017 in South Africa with the emergence of the T20 Global League, but that development didn’t last long as the league didn’t attract substantial broadcasting and title sponsorships. Thereafter, in the following year, 2018, Cricket South Africa undertook a renewed initiative for the shorter format of cricket and established the Mzansi Super League. Though it took off in the year 2020 and 2021, this tournament too couldn’t last long due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, which has put the world to a standstill. 

After that, Cricket South Africa looked to plan for a more well-established league which would have a vision to target a larger audience and a better broadcaster, and it took inspiration from the IPL. In the year 2022, a new cricket body, the Africa Cricket Development Limited, was formed, and it established the SA20 tournament for the specific purpose of managing and delivering the T20 tournament in South Africa. While Cricket South Africa owns the major 50 % stake in this organisation, other entities also hold stakes, including official broadcaster SuperSport owns 30 % of its stake, and the former IPL CEO Sundar Raman owns 20 % of its stake. 

As mentioned in the article earlier, former South Africa captain Graeme Smith was one of the main brains of this league. IPL has been an inspiration for the formation of the SA20 tournament. After the final of the third edition of SA20, this fact has been diligently recognized by the former South African test skipper, Graeme, in an interview with PTI. After the final of the third edition of SA20, the 2025 ICC Hall of Famer, profusely praising the IPL and BCCI, said that Cricket South Africa has received huge support and an enormous amount of guidance from the two Indian cricket boards in all their decisions towards the formation of the SA20 tournament. 

In the words of Smith, “IPL is the leader in franchise cricket by far and we can only learn from them.” There are six teams in the SA20 tournament, and interestingly, all six franchises are connected to the IPL owners. 

SA20 Current League Format and Variations

The 2026 season of the SA20 will start from 26 December 2025, and the final will be played on 26th January in the year 2026. The previous editions of the SA20 tournament was held in the month of January but this time the tournament was preponed because of the ICC T20 World Cup in the month of February which will take place in India and as well as in Sri Lanka. In all, there have been six teams in the SA20 tournament since its first edition in 2023. The competing teams are Durban Super Giants, MI Cape Town, Paarl Royals, Joburg Super Kings, Pretoria Capitals, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, and Pretoria Capitals. Interestingly, as a matter of fact, all these SA20 franchises are owned by the IPL franchise owners. 

Meanwhile, in the league stage, there are 30 league stages, and each team will play 10 matches and face each other twice in a round-robin format. As far as the points table is concerned, it is different from all the other leagues of the world where a win will get 4 points, and if there is a tie or no result situation, the points will be shared to 2 points each. And in case of a losing team, that team will get no points. The playoff scenario is the same as that of the IPL. The top two teams in the points table will face off against each other in Qualifier 1. The 3rd and 4th-placed teams will play in the eliminator, and the winner of the eliminator will play against the loser of Qualifier 1 in the Qualifier 2 match. At the end, the winner of Qualifier 2 will play against the winner of Qualifier 1 in the final.

SA20 Tournament Team Owners and Sponsors

Now, as far as the owner and sponsors of the SA20 are concerned, interestingly, as stated earlier in the article, all the teams in this particular tournament are owned by the IPL owners. 

Joburg Super Kings

Chennai-based CSLK Ltd, which owns the Chennai Super Kings, is also the owner of Joburg Super Kings. Mahindra and FedEx are the principal sponsors of Joburg Super Kings. FedEx is also the official Logistics Partner of the franchise. Along with these sponsors, Mr D's company is one of the sponsors of the Joburg team. 

Durban Super Giants

Sanjiv Goenka-led RPSG group is the owner of the franchise Durban Super Giants. Takealot is the lead sponsor of the Durban Super Giants. It is a leading South African E-commerce company. The official team sponsor is the online betting company 1×BET, and Airlink is also another sponsor of the Durban franchise. 

MI Cape Town

The Ambani family, which owns Reliance Industries and the Mumbai Indians in the IPL, is the owner of MI Cape Town. CFI Financial Group is the official sponsor of MI Cape Town, and TCL and Cadbury Ice Cream (a popular ice cream brand in South Africa) are the other sponsors of this team. 

Paarl Royals

Manoj Badale, the owner of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, owns Paarl Royals. The official sponsor of Paarl Royals is online gambling company Six6s, and the companies Airlink and Stake are the sponsors of the Paarl franchise. 

Pretoria Capitals

JSW Sports, led by businessman Parth Jindal, who is one of the stakeholders of Delhi Capitals in the IPL, is the 100% stakeholder of the Pretoria Capitals team. Dafabet is the official sponsor of Pretoria Capitals, whereas Vision 11 and Greenpanel are the other sponsors of Pretoria Capitals. 

Sunrisers Eastern Cape

The Sun Group, which owns the Sunrisers Hyderabad team in the IPL, also owns the Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20. Parimatch is the official sponsor of Sunrisers Eastern Cape, BJ Baji and Airlink are the other sponsors of the team, and Lotto is the jersey sponsor of Sunrisers Eastern Cape. 

SA20 Teams and Brand Value

Coming into the brand values of each of the franchises in SA20, as these teams are owned by the IPL franchise owners, there are no officially announced brand values of the teams in this tournament. 

The first team is Joburg Super Kings, whose owner is associated with CSK in the IPL, and the estimated brand value of the Joburg team is USD 10-15 million.

Durban Super Giants, who are owned by the RPSG group of Dr Sanjeev Goenka, have an estimated brand value of USD 10 million. 

MI Cape Town and Paarl Royals have the estimated brand values of USD 12 million and USD 8-12 million, respectively. 

JSW Sports-owned Pretoria Capitals has an estimated brand value of USD 7-12 million. On the other hand, Sunrisers Eastern Cape has an estimated brand value of USD 8-15 million. 

SA20 Tournament Rules and Variations

As we see the format of the SA20 tournament concerned, as stated earlier, there will be 34 matches in total, and out of these 34, 30 matches are league stage matches, and the remaining three are playoffs matches, and the last one is the final. The tournament will start a bit early from 26th December, 2025, and the final will be played on 26th January, 2026. As far as the rules and playing conditions of SA20 are concerned, there is a bit of tweak in the selection of players. 

The SA20 has created a unique move to make the tournament more interesting; now the captains of each team can keep 13 players in standby to take the field before the toss. The captains have the option of selecting the final playing XI for the match after the toss is done, and the rest of two players will automatically become the substitutes. Another interesting rule has been made; in other leagues, teams get 2 points after a win, but here in SA20, instead of 2 points, a winning team will be awarded 4 points, and the teams will receive two points each, in case of a tie or no result situation. There is a twist in how the points are awarded. The teams that achieve a net run rate that is 1.25 times that of the rival team can receive an additional bonus point. 

Another major rule change that happened is the on-field penalties for slow over rates. In this tournament, the speed of the game will be looked after without any penalties for the captains. An interesting amendment has also been incorporated into the free-hit rule, where there will be no byes to be given to the batting side if the ball ricochets to the stumps.

SA20 Tournament Seasons and Results

Sunrisers Eastern Cape in 2023 

The franchise from Gqeberha, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, created history by winning the first title in the inaugural session of SA20 in 2023. In that 2023 season, the Sunrisers had international stars like Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, Tristan Stubbs, and Brydon Carse. Coming into the finals, the Pretoria Capitals, under the captaincy of fast bowler Wayne Parnell, batted first and couldn’t manage to score much as the Capitals were bowled out for 135 runs. Roelof Van der Merwe, the off-spinner produced a match defining spell taking four wickets for 31 runs where he took the crucial wickets of Phil Salt, Theunis de Bruyn, Eathan Bosch and Migael Pretorius. 

In response, coming into bat, the Sunrisers wrapped up the final match by four wickets. English opener Adam Rossington, playing for the Sunrisers, has given a good start as he scored 57 runs in just 30 balls, hitting five sixes and four boundaries. Skipper Aiden Markram too played a handy knock of 26 runs, and at the end, Marco Jansen finished the job with 13 not out and helped Sunrisers Eastern Cape lift the trophy.

Sunrisers Eastern Cape in 2024

Sunrisers Eastern Cape continued their explosive form where they left off and won the SA20 trophy for the second successive time in its 2024 edition. In the 2024 season, the Sunrisers Eastern Cape had the same international players, which included an explosive variety of acclaimed performers like Aiden Markram, fast bowler Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs, and Roelof Van der Merwe. Coming into the finals against the Pretoria Capitals, the Sunrisers team under the captaincy of Aiden Markram batted first and scored a mammoth total of 204 with the loss of 3 wickets in 20 overs. The English batter, Tom Abell, played an outstanding knock of 55 in just 34 balls to help his team win the final. 

The skipper Aiden Markram led from the front and scored an unbeaten 42 runs in 26 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes. At the end, Tristan Stubbs played the most crucial knock when he scored 56 runs in just 30 balls and stayed till the end, hitting four boundaries and three humongous sixes to help Sunrisers post a competitive total. The Durban Super Giants had some gun players like Quinton De Kock, Heinrich Klaasen, and Bhanuka Rajapaksa, but weren't able to chase down the total. 

The Sunrisers bowlers bowled brilliantly and didn’t allow the Super Giants batsmen to settle down as they beat the Super Giants by a huge margin of 89 runs. Marco Jansen probably bowled the match-winning spell as he took five wickets and went for only 30 runs in four overs. Jansen took the vital wickets of JJ Smuts, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, skipper Maharaj, Junior Dala, and fast bowler Topley as Sunrisers Eastern Cape created history. 

MI Cape Town in 2025

MI Cape Town are the defending champions of SA20 currently, as they defeated the Sunrisers Eastern Cape, the most successful team of SA20 so far. MI Cape Town, under the captaincy of Afghan star Rashid Khan, batted first and scored a solid total of 181 runs with the loss of seven wickets. The MI Cape Town team has players like Rassie Van der Dussen, Ryan Rickleton, Kagiso Rabada, and the rising star Dewald Brevis. The likes of Ryan Rickelton, Connor Esterhuizen, and Dewald Brevis played some handy knocks as MI CT posted this solid total. 

The MI Cape Town bowlers blew away the Sunrisers Eastern Cape team as they were bundled out for 105 runs. Star international bowler Kagiso Rabada showcased his experience in the most important match and took four wickets for 25 runs in 3.4 overs. The likes of Trent Boult and George Linde also chipped in with 2 wickets each and helped the MI Cape Town team to lift its first trophy in SA20.

SA20 Tournament Awards List Till Now

Most Runs

As far as the most runs in SA20 in each season is concerned, it is only after three seasons that batsmen have started to score a plethora of runs. Coming into the inaugural edition of 2023, experienced English batter Jos Buttler has scored the most runs in that season playing for the Paarl Royals team. In 11 matches, Jos Buttler has scored 391 runs with a solid average of 39.1. The Royals' name can be easily associated with Jos Buttler, as he has played for the Rajasthan Royals for quite a number of years. Meanwhile, in the 2024 season, the wicketkeeper batsman Ryan Rickleton scored a truckload of runs and was the highest run scorer playing for the MI Cape Town team. Later on in the year 2025, Rickleton got associated with the Mumbai Indians team as the MI team bought Rickleton for Rs 1 crore in the 2025 IPL mega auction. In the 2025 season, Lhuan-dre Pretorius top-scored in the tournament with 397 runs playing for the Paarl Royals. The swashbuckling left-hander caught a lot of eyeballs with his clean striking ability. The talented 19-year-old batted with a fiery strike rate of more than 166.81 and piled up 397 runs with some explosive batting displays.

Most Wickets 

As far as the most wickets in each season is concerned, Roelof Van der Merwe has taken the most wickets playing for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape with 20 wickets. With some lethal bowling performances, Van der Merwe played a vital role for the Sunrisers, winning the championship. In two successive seasons, in the years 2024 and 2025, South African pacer Marco Jansen, showing great consistency, took the most wickets in consecutive seasons. In 10 matches, Marco Jansen had picked up 20 wickets in the 2024 season. Continuing that form, in the 2025 season, Marco has taken 19 wickets in 13 matches to help Sunrisers Cape Town reach the finals. 

Broadcasting Channels for Watching the SA20